NC pushes to learn about Nafion levels in Cape Fear

Wednesday

Nov 29, 2017 at 10:41 AMNov 29, 2017 at 10:41 AM

An EPA lab will soon test water samples for the chemical that, like toxic GenX, regulators know little about

By Adam Wagner GateHouse Media

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. -- Regulators are a step closer to understanding how much of a pair of chemical byproducts from operations at Chemours' Fayetteville Works plant can be found in the Cape Fear River, according to a N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) spokesman.

"The (Environmental Protection Agency's) Athens, Georgia, lab now has an internal lab standard for the two Nafion byproducts and in the next few weeks will be analyzing water samples collected in the lower Cape Fear by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality for the two byproducts," Jamie Kritzer, the DEQ spokesman, said.

DEQ expects to receive the first round of test results in mid-December. Those results will be based on water samples collected the week of October 16.

The perfluorinated compounds, known as Nafion Byproduct 1 and Nafion Byproduct 2, were first detected by the EPA in late August, with scientists at the federal agency's Research Triangle Park expressing concern that concentrations were not falling even as GenX and associated compounds were declining.

Those concentrations were, according to prior DEQ press releases, estimations because the lab standard had not yet been established.

As with GenX, typical water treatment plants -- including the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) and Brunswick County utilities -- cannot remove the Nafion substances from water before distributing it to customers. And also like GenX, there is little to no information about the potential health effects of these compounds.

Emily Donovan, a Brunswick County resident and one of the co-founders of Clean Cape Fear, has long called for more information about the Nafion byproducts.

"We absolutely need to know this information, and we need to keep publishing it. It needs to be transparent," she said. "We also need to keep reminding everybody that we don't know what a safe dose is, and because we don't know what a safe dose is, 100 percent capture is absolutely what needs to be happening in that facility right now."

After state officials learned about the Nafion byproducts, they included a provision requiring Chemours to capture any discharges in an early September partial consent order signed in Bladen County Superior Court.

Samples from Sept. 18 and tested using non-targeted analysis indicated Nafion byproduct 1 levels of 6,560 parts per trillion (ppt) and Nafion byproduct 2 levels of 45,200 ppt at one of the plant's outfalls. As a result of the samples, DEQ ordered Chemours to capture wastewater from several manufacturing areas on the sprawling plant site, which lies about 100 miles upstream from Wilmington, and have it incinerated.

"This is another step," DEQ Secretary Michael Regan said in an Oct. 30 release, "in our ongoing work to stop possible contaminants at their source."

While establishing a laboratory standard could reveal how much of the Nafion compounds is in the water, Donovan also believes the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) should use the information that is available to set a health goal akin to the one it established for GenX.

DHHS has not set any standards for the Nafion byproducts.

"If you can't tell me what a safe dose is for my children," Donovan said, "then it shouldn't be in the water."

Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@GateHouseMedia.com.

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